The present invention relates to a hinged lid carton and has to do more particularly with a one-piece carbon structure which may be fabricated in the same fashion as a seal-end carton having a tubular body and end closure flaps which define the opposite end walls of the carbon structure. Seal-end carbons as such have been long known to the industry, such cartons being fabricated from a one-piece carton blank initially folded and glued to define a flat-folded tubular body having end closure flaps projecting from the opposite ends of the body walls. The flat-folded carbons are assembled by erecting or "squaring-up" the body walls, followed by the infolding and sealing together of the end closure flaps at one end of the carton body, whereupon the contents is introduced into the carton through the remaining open end, followed by the closing and sealing of the remaining end closure flaps to complete the package.
It has also been proposed to provide such cartons with enclosed bags or liners adapted to be associated with the carton blanks as an incident of their formation into flat-folded carton structures, as taught for example in Bergstein U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,099,257; 2,114,621; 2,114,622; 2,114,624; and 2,114,625, to name but a few. While over the years numerous improvements have been made in the apparatus and techniques for forming, filling and closing such carton structures, the cartons themselves have remained basically the same, namely, tubular cartons sealed at their opposite ends and adapted to be opened in various ways, as by cutting or tearing away all or a portion of an end closure, or by providing a pouring spout or other dispensing device. Various attempts have hitherto been made to provide a reclosable dispensing opening in the end closures, including efforts to convert an end closure into a reclosable lid. In Bergstein et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,269,635, of which the present applicant was a co-inventor, there is taught a so-called canister-type container formed from a flat-folded tubular blank, with the tubular body walls of the carton forming the top, front, bottom and rear walls of the container, and with the closure flaps defining the opposite end walls of the container. While the structure was provided with an additional body wall which defined a liftable closure flap adapted to cover a dispensing opening in the top wall of the carton body, the arrangement did not provide a lid as such, i.e., a cover with depending flanges for engaging the underlying body walls; rather, the dispensing opening was defined by a removable plug which was adhered to the inner surface of the overlying liftable closure flap, the plug reentering the dispensing opening when the closure flap was reclosed, thereby effectively reclosing the dispensing opening. While such construction will effectively reclose the dispensing opening if properly handled, the users of the cartons are often unwilling to take the time to insure that the plug is properly seated in the opening and the closure flap secured in place by its attachment tab.
In contrast to the foregoing, the instant invention provides a seal-end type carton having a true hinged lid which snugly engages about the body of the carton when closed. Consequently, in the hands of the user, the mere closing of the lid serves to effect a positive reclosure of the carton.